The next big business trend that we are going to see, and that is happening already, is not only that aboriginal businesses are going to be stronger components of the corporate supply chain, but we are also going to see them as stronger proponents of equity positions and actual partners within resource projects.

JP Gladu of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business discusses native participation in resource industries...Read More

Lithium, not surprisingly, stood out as a commodity of interest. While cautioning against over-enthusiasm for the exploration rush, Berry and Hykawy each affirmed the need for juniors to find new sources of the metal. Cobalt and scandium featured prominently too, as did other commodities including what Kaiser called “the weird metals”—lesser known stuff that’s vital to our lives but threatened with security of supply.

Kaiser also noted he was addressing a crowd larger than his last PDAC audience, another indication that “we’ve turned the corner.”

Attendees also met and mingled with company reps. Potential investors learned about a wide gamut of projects aspiring to meet a growing demand for necessities, conveniences and luxuries.

Presented by Zimtu Capital TSXV:ZC, the forum’s success will make it an annual event, said company president Dave Hodge. Berry emceed the conference, holding the unenviable task of “making sure Dave stays well-behaved.”

Most companies were core holdings of Zimtu, a prospect generator that connects explorers with properties and also shares management, technical and financing expertise. Zimtu offers investors participation in a range of commodities and companies, including some at the pre-IPO stage.

After sampling high-grade lithium on its Hidden Lake project in the Northwest Territories earlier this month, 92 Resources TSXV:NTY plans to return in mid-July for a program of mapping, exposing spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes, and channel sampling. The company closed the final tranche of a private placement totalling $318,836 in April. Hidden Lake’s located near Highway 4, about 40 kilometres from Yellowknife and within the Yellowknife Pegmatite Belt.

With one of the Athabasca Basin’s largest and most prospective exploration portfolios, ALX Uranium TSXV:AL has a number of projects competing for flagship status. Among them is Hook-Carter, which covers extensions of three known conductive trends, one of them hosting the sensational discoveries of Fission Uranium TSX:FCU and NexGen Energy TSXV:NXE. ALX’s strategic partnership with Holystone Energy allows that company to invest up to $750,000 in ALX and retain the right to maintain its ownership level for three years. ALX closed a private placement first tranche of $255,000 last month, amid this year’s busy news flow from a number of the company’s active projects.

Arctic Star Exploration TSXV:ADD boasts one of northern Canada’s largest 100%-held diamond exploration portfolios. Among the properties are the drill-ready Stein project in Nunavut and others in the Lac de Gras region that’s the world’s third-largest diamond producer by value. North Arrow Minerals TSXV:NAR holds an option to earn up to 55% of Arctic Star’s Redemption property.

Aurvista Gold TSXV:AVA considers its Douay property one of Quebec’s largest and last undeveloped gold projects. The Abitibi property has resources totalling 238,400 ounces of gold indicated and 2.75 million ounces inferred. Now, with $1.1 million raised last month, the company hopes to increase those numbers through a summer program including 4,000 metres of drilling. Douay’s 2014 PEA used a 5% discount rate to forecast a post-tax NPV of $16.6 million and a post-tax IRR of 40%.

Looking for lithium in Nevada, Belmont Resources TSXV:BEA now has a geophysics crew en route to its Kibby Basin property, which the company believes could potentially host lithium-bearing brines in a similar geological setting to the Clayton Valley, about 65 kilometres south. Results from the gravity survey will help identify targets for direct push drilling and sampling.

A mineral perhaps overlooked in the effort to supply green technologies, zeolite has several environmental applications. Canadian Zeolite TSXV:CNZ holds two projects in southern British Columbia, Sun Group and Bromley Creek, the latter an active quarrying operation.

With a high-grade, near-surface rare earths deposit hosted in minerals that have proven processing, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE takes its Ashram project in Quebec towards pre-feasibility. The relatively straightforward mineralogy contributes to steady progress in metallurgical studies. Commerce also holds southeastern B.C.’s Blue River tantalum-niobium deposit, which reached PEA in 2011 and a resource update in 2013.

Permitted for construction following a 2014 PEA, Copper North Mining’s (TSXV:COL) Carmacks copper-gold-silver project now undergoes revised PEA studies. The agenda calls for improved economics by creating a new leach and development plan for the south-central Yukon property. In central B.C. the company holds the Thor exploration property, 20 kilometres south of the historic Kemess mine.

Overseas investors once again get to meet Canadian juniors in person, as prospect generator Zimtu Capital TSXV:ZC and 11 of its holdings visit four European cities from November 5 to 11. Now in the event’s fifth year, company reps will hold conferences in Munich, Geneva, Zurich and Frankfurt to largely institutional audiences, demonstrating the wide-ranging interest in exploration opportunities.

“Essentially it’s a commitment by Zimtu and all the participating companies to keep the European investor informed about what the companies are doing, to meet the management and form a relationship with the guys who are going to be making the decisions, effectively spending their money,” says Zimtu president Dave Hodge.

“Many of the investors who are still interested in the sector had made great money in the past and experienced tremendous upside in some stocks. Certainly the Canadian junior market is very unique globally and provides that opportunity for the European investor to speculate on discovery.”

Describing himself as a “grizzled veteran of the Zimtu bus,” Chris Berry acts as MC, moderator and keynote speaker. The president of House Mountain Partners and co-editor of the Disruptive Discoveries Journal says, “I like to go back and get a sense of what institutional investors in those cities are thinking about, not just about commodity markets but central bank policies and the macro economy.”

His talk will briefly review the perspectives he offered last year then “challenge the audience” with four questions to consider in 2016. “It’s really more of a discussion than a lecture and I hope there’s a lot of pushback and debate. That gets people thinking and hopefully planning for better times next year.”

While the downturn’s all too obvious, several Zimtu holdings have made impressive strides over the last year. Some of the more remarkable stories include the creation of ALX Uranium TSXV:AL after Lakeland Resources and Alpha Exploration won overwhelming shareholder approval to combine their companies. The result is a distinguished team overseeing one of the Athabasca Basin’s largest and most prospective portfolios.

Competing for flagship status are a number of drill-ready projects including Kelic Lake, where a rig’s currently at work. Gibbon’s Creek has a ground gravity survey underway to follow up on last winter’s 2,550-metre program on a property hosting some of the Basin’s highest radon levels. The company’s Carter Lake and Hook Lake properties feature around 15 kilometres of untested corridors on strike with the Patterson Lake South, Arrow and Spitfire discoveries. Other drill-ready projects include Newnham Lake and Lazy Edward Bay, a 60% stake in the Carpenter Lake joint venture and an 80% share of the Gorilla JV.

Well financed for additional campaigns, the ALX team has been poring over property data to further establish priorities.

Commerce Resources addresses last year’s Munich conference.

Focusing on a rare earths project with relatively simple mineralogy, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE continues to make progress with drilling, metallurgy and community engagement as its Ashram deposit in northern Quebec moves towards pre-feasibility. Last month the company increased rare earth elements recovery from 71% to 76% at a high grade of 42% total rare earth oxides, while also simplifying the plant’s flowsheet. The most impressive concentrates so far have graded 48.9% TREO at 63% recovery and 45.7% TREO at 71% recovery.

Eager to make contact with potential buyers, Electra bought and shipped an 18-tonne cargo of jade to Shanghai in September and is now preparing a second shipment. The company also produces chalky geyserite, or aluminum silica, from a Vancouver Island quarry. The product’s U.S. customer collaborated with Electra on a drill program last summer to study the project’s expansion potential.